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6th grade · Math · Unit 17 of 17

Nets & Surface Area

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What your child practices

Using nets made of rectangles and triangles to find the surface area of prisms and pyramids.

Alaska content standards learning standard: 6.G.4 · representing three-dimensional figures with nets and using them to find surface area

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A net is a solid unfolded flat.
  2. Find the area of every face in the net.
  3. Add them all: that is the surface area.

Example: A box is 2 cm by 3 cm by 4 cm. What is its surface area? Two 2 × 3 faces: 12. Two 2 × 4 faces: 16. Two 3 × 4 faces: 24. 12 + 16 + 24 = 52. Answer: 52 cm²

Nets & Surface Area in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 17 of 17 in 6th grade Math, after Unit Rates.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A cube has edges 10 in long. What is its surface area?

    • 400 in²
    • 602 in²
    • 600 in²
    • 60 in²
    • 1000 in²

  2. Question 2

    A square pyramid has a base 5 ft on each side. Each triangle face has a height of 5 ft. What is its surface area?

    • 50 ft²
    • 73 ft²
    • 125 ft²
    • 75 ft²
    • 100 ft²

  3. Question 3

    Which shapes make up a net of a square pyramid?

    • 2 squares and 4 rectangles
    • 1 square and 4 triangles
    • 4 squares
    • 1 circle and 1 triangle

  4. Question 4

    A box is 4 cm by 3 cm by 8 cm. Use its net to find its surface area.

    • 96 cm²
    • 136 cm²
    • 135 cm²
    • 68 cm²
    • 80 cm²

  5. Question 5

    A cube has edges 5 in long. What is its surface area?

    • 150 in²
    • 147 in²
    • 30 in²
    • 100 in²
    • 125 in²

  6. Question 6

    A square pyramid has a base 5 ft on each side. Each triangle face has a height of 10 ft. What is its surface area?

    • 225 ft²
    • 125 ft²
    • 127 ft²
    • 150 ft²
    • 100 ft²

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